Ordinarily, water outlets of most American sanitary flush tanks comprise either a flapper valve of known construction or a tank ball-valve. Both are designed to effect a delayed sealing of the water outlet of the sanitary flush tank in which they are installed. By closing this water outlet, the outflow of water from the tank to the toilet bowl ceases and the tank is allowed to refill to its desired level. Flow of water into the tank is then terminated in a known fashion. Existing valves are generally composed of either vinyl or rubber formed in various shapes.
It has been learned from research that 45% of water use in the average living environment is in the washroom, and a large percentage of that use is through sanitary fixtures and constitutes flush water. Data which has been gathered indicates that 15% to 30% of this total water use is lost due to leaky flapper valves or faulty ball-cocks (fill valves) ball-valves installed in the flush tanks. Such leakage is usually caused either by improper seating of the valve-stop on the water outlet or by deterioration of the sealing material, although there are, of course, other causes. Research has also ascertained that water lost through faulty ball-cocks causes approximately 15% of the total loss, whereas approximately 85% is due to faulty flapper valves. Based on such estimates, the water lost caused by faulty flapper valves alone amounts to 12% to 25% of the total water use in the average American household or business.
Materials used to effect the seal of the ball-valve or flapper valve against the water outlet are of considerable importance. The material selected should be both durable and flexible and should retain its flexibility over long periods of time while it is immersed in water. Generally either rubber or vinyl are currently used for stop valves which are commercially available. However, research suggests that valve stops constructed of such materials begin to leak silently and undetectably to the average homeowner in a surprisingly short period of time.
A vexing problem that faces the consumer who seeks to replace a system previously or originally installed in a flush tank is the wide variety of devices which are commercially available, each having been designed with a specific system in mind. There is an enormous diversity among marketed devices whereby prospective buyers are faced with the unfortunate and undesirable problem of determining the optimal system for their particular flush tanks to be selected from among many varieties of competing systems, any one of which may be unsuitable for their particular flush tanks. There is a need for a stop valve system which has universal or almost universal adaptability to be received by most flush tank systems currently installed in American homes, offices and factories. Moreover, there is a need that such a universal system provide a dependable closure of the flush water outlet and not be such that it commences to leak silently and undetectably shortly after installation.